Tag Archives: housing

Real estate agents spend a lot of time thinking about pricing properties. In any office, “Do you have a second?” is usually followed up with a pricing opinion question. Agents discuss, debate and defend the merits of pricing based on their favorite methods, be it average sold price per square foot, sales price to list price ratio, or days on market compared to… “Hey, did you catch ‘The Americans’ last night?”

All of that said, where one prices a property is a function of two things: market forces and ego.

Take any basic accounting class, or go to Vegas for the weekend, and you’ll soon get the concept that financial losses are bad. Which is why you might scratch your head when I tell you that some of my most successful property investment clients ask me to find them properties that will show a loss.

I was recently discussing this concept with a colleague, when he smiled knowingly and said, “I get it, your client’s getting divorced and wants to hide some money.” After assuring him that this wasn’t some film noir-style fraud scheme, I explained that my client was talking about “paper losses.” The quizzical tilt of his head told me that I had some ‘splaining to do. Continue reading →

I have clients who want to own investment properties. And even though they may own several personal and vacation homes, the idea of putting all of their property investment eggs in one building basket is counter to their successful track record of spreading the risk across different assets.

Regarding real estate, individual investors generally think of the three most common property holdings: office buildings, shopping centers and apartment buildings. And the easiest of these investments to manage and understand is the apartment building — people pay rent, you subtract your expenses and voilà, there’s your net taxable income. (The CPA then works his/her magic by factoring in mortgage interest and depreciation deductions, but that’s something for the next day.)

I never thought the Treasury Department’s thresholds for reporting the people behind cash purchases of residential real estate would make me face my bi-Coastal allegiances.

Having grown up in New York, and having lived in Los Angeles for more than half of my life, I’m conflicted. I read the New York Times (electronic edition) every day. I also read the Los Angeles Times (print edition), which, jonesing for a NY experience, I fold in the manner I learned in fourth grade so as to more easily read it on the subway. [That this was taught to me in school as part of the curriculum says volumes about the veneration of The Times. But I digress…]

I identify as a New Yorker, especially when it comes to claiming unparalleled authority on topics such as bagels and pizza. Even more so, I wear the mantle of having grown up in Manhattan with unwarranted snobbery over those from Long Island or New Jersey ― unwarranted as I was simply lucky to have parents cool enough to live in the city, and did not attain that rank of my own merits. Continue reading →

LA is a city with an identity crisis, mainly because it has more identities than “Sybil.” The “city” part of LA is the downtown area that reached its glory days in the 20s and 30s, hit a decline in the post war years, laid fallow for about 50 years and began its renaissance starting in the late 90s. For what’s supposed to be the economic hub of the city, people can go their whole lives without setting foot in downtown (and truthfully, they’re missing out, but that’s a topic for another day).

Downtown has had a huge residential population boom, going from approximately 14,000 denizens to more than 50,000 over the past 15 years. The tipping point was the introduction of a name brand supermarket that allowed people who always thought it would be cool to live downtown, but were wary of the inconvenience of not being able to get the emergency carton of milk for their Sunday morning coffee, to feel more comfortable. As more units came on line (either through new construction, or the redevelopment of iconic buildings) restaurants, stores, clubs and even a Soul Cycle followed. Suddenly, downtown was a viable place to live. It may also be a victim of its own success. Continue reading →

There’s a conversation that real estate agents and their clients have every four years, usually starting in July (sometimes August, and in some cases, even September) based on the question, “So, how do you think the election is going to effect the real estate market?” My stock broker tells me his clients ask him the same thing about the stock market. That said, since you may be interested in asking the question, I’ll reply with the same ever hedging answer I get from him whenever I ask about the market: “it depends.” Continue reading →

KPCC’s Airtalk does a great job of covering local (Los Angeles) and national issues. Yesterday’s show was about the housing market and how buyers with loans are having a hard time competing against all cash buyers. It’s a good segment. The segment is worth a listen, but if you want to hear my personal take, my call comes in around the 5:45 mark.